Thursday, March 30, 2006

Night Time

"Night Time" is a short comic story I wrote and drew a couple of years ago for a great local literary magazine, Taddle Creek. They had let me draw a story for them once before, when they first began running a short piece of "illustrated fiction" (why, oh why can't we just call them comics?) in each issue, and I always liked how the editor just let me go ahead and do whatever I wanted, without needing to submit an outline or anything -- a kind of freedom that I've experienced very rarely.

Anyway, the editor even let me set how many pages I needed, and I stupidly told him I only needed four; even though I didn't even have any idea at that time what I was going to write. After I wrote it and laid it out, of course, I found out I needed a bit more space but by then the page count had been set. So, I actually decided to go with what I thought at the time was the strangest of all possible layouts -- a 15 panel grid. In the end though, I think that the grid was the best design decision for the story. It forced a "beat" and structure to what was, essentially, a very impressionistic story about memory.

I drew roughs on grid paper, using post-it-notes to replace/correct panels and copy. The final art was drawn with brush pens and markers, one tier at a time over 4 days. I have to thank Claudia for doing all the scanning and amazing digital cleanup.

I was happy enough with this story that I later collected it up into a mini-comic in a slightly different format. The story as it appeared in Taddle Creek was a finalist for the National Magazine Awards (finalist, not winner) and the mini-comic got a very kind review in the local Toronto weekly, the eye.

I'm currently working on another, much longer format story in a similar style which I'm hoping will find a publisher when its complete.

Thanks for sharing that with us, Micheal. When I finished reading it I was kinda underwhelmed (maybe I was expecting some grisly end, I watch too many horrors), however, the more I think about it the more I think this will be something I will remember for a long time and always tell others about.Very clear narration and some stunning use of silhoettes and shadow too.Thanks again.

Hey Mike, I loved this piece when it first appeared in Taddle Creek and I still love it now. What I also loved was arguing with Tim and Conan about which panels we wanted to buy off of you! Great work and a really nice blog as well. Keep it up.

John: Hey John! Long time no talk. Thanks for the comments -- I remember that day very well too. And Tim's many many wisecracks...!

Nick: Thanks a lot, Nick -- I appreciate the kind words.

lelandwng: Thank you! Yup --I'm big Eisner fan myself but I didn't think it was visible or anything. But its extremely flattering if you think my work reminds you in any possible way of the late great Will Eisner. After all, he literally wrote the book on good comics storytelling.

just already i found a gread comics, NIGHT TIME. i have worked as a comic artist and publisher in korea. i wish to introduce your work to my readers. if you O.K., would you send me an e-mail to this e-mail address?

Hey, neat. This is like Lynda Barry meets Adrian Tomine! Two of my very favorites! I've always stived to make comics like this one, but don't know if I've ever succeeded as well as you have. Great work.

Please note that I do not do accept any private commissions (comic character sketches, family portraits, etc). I also do not sell any prints of my work online. Sketches and prints can usually be purchased at events that I am personally attending. Thanks for your understanding.